Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit | |
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Country | United States of America |
Branch | United States Army |
Type | Medical R&D Command |
Role | Military medical research and development |
Part of | U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command |
Garrison/HQ | US Army Garrison Forest Glen |
Motto(s) | "Know the Vector, Know the Threat" |
The Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit ("WRBU") is a US Army organization that conducts laboratory and field research on the systematics of medically important arthropods in support of epidemiological investigations and disease prevention and control strategies of importance to the military.[1][2] Research is carried out worldwide, within geographic or faunistic restrictions of the material available and military requirements. Research efforts focus on the development of accurate and reliable means of identifying vectors of arbopathogens of humans.[2]
The WRBU also performs arthropod collections management for the Department of Entomology, National Museum of Natural History mosquito collection and maintains a molecular entomology laboratory within the Smithsonian Institution Museum Support Center for joint use of WRBU and National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) personnel.[2]